It can go on like this. The 2022 Formula 1 season with drums and trumpets, old wisdom no longer applies. Mercedes and Red Bull have to give way to Ferrari for the time being. In their post-race analysis, German automobile magazine Auto Motor und Sport answer the most important questions about the first race of the new F1 championship:
How much faster is Ferrari?
Ferrari has the most balanced package at the start of the season. The F1-75 is predictable. The red car is fast both on one lap and over the race distance, it protects the tires and downforce is high, as evidenced by the good section times in the central section of the Bahrain circuit. The relationship between contact pressure and air resistance is good, the V6 turbo engine is a stunner. It is said that the six-cylinder from Maranello has even more power than last year – despite E10 petrol.
The red car also doesn’t tend to bounce excessively on the straights. Red Bull has bouncing under control, but had to sacrifice downforce in Bahrain to keep up on the straights. The top speeds indicate that the engineers may have meant too well. Red Bull paid for it in the corners, and with too much tire wear in the race. The engineers calculate: “Ferrari is three tenths faster per lap than us.”
Charles Leclerc delivered a masterpiece. He won the start on fresh softs against Max Verstappen on used softs. Between laps 17 and 19 after the first pit stops, he countered three overtaking attempts by the world champion, who now had a new set of the soft compound, while Charles Leclerc switched to used softs. “I knew that Max would attack me at the end of the home straight. I deliberately braked earlier to get DRS myself for the following straight. That was the tactic. Otherwise he would have overtaken me there.” Charles Leclerc repeatedly passed his opponent before turn four. This is followed by the winding corners that prevent further attempts.
With the exception of the first pit stop, when the right front tire was not changed quickly enough, all tire changes went well. Ferrari used the right tactics with both drivers. Although Verstappen could have arrived in front by with his undercuts. The World Champion’s team had underestimated the advantage of the fresh tires and instructed their star to start each stint without pushing.
A certain risk seemed to arise when Charles Leclerc was not brought in after Verstappen’s third stop. “We saw another stop as an additional risk. Our lead was large enough. Charles had managed the tires up to that point. He had enough juice and lead to stay ahead,” explained team boss Mattia Binotto. “In theory, Max would have caught up with Leclerc two to three laps before the checkered flag,” calculates Red Bull sports director Helmut Marko. The late safety car forced the Ferrari strategists to rethink. Leclerc praised his team after the success. “We have a car with which we are fighting for victories. And we want to have a say in the title.”
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Auto Motor und Sport also reported on the Mercedes deficit to Ferrari: over one lap, the gap is at 0.5s, while over a race distance, the gap is at 0.8s per lap due to higher tyre deg. It seems Mercedes also lacks a bit of PU power and the ICE is frozen now (you can’t update that). Mercedes wants to sort out their car issues by the start of the European races in Imola (they understand the car better but still need to make big setup compromises). Lewis Hamilton thinks they have a fundamental issue and it will take longer than that.
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